Chapter 40: Trusting the Enemy

LUCA

Luca stood, arms out, as the old cop patted down his arms, his legs, and his torso. This was something he’d prepared for. So, like a good boy, he let the cop do his job.

“Turn around.”

Luca dropped his arms and turned around to face a younger cop. The older one told him to put his arms up again, and Luca complied.

“Done.”

The second cop held out a metal detector wand and skimmed the paddle-like instrument over his body.

“All checks clear.”

A third cop had all of Luca’s personal possessions—well, Mr. Joseph Felling’s belongings. The young cop nodded at Luca and dropped the wand.

“All clear,” the third cop said. “You can go through, Mr. Felling. Mr. Borroni will be at table seven.”

Luca nodded at the cop, picked up his jacket and belongings, and walked into the visitation area.

Luca had been to this prison before—three of his loyal guys were inside—and knew it wasn’t as strict as some. There were no plastic partitions, just tables separating the inmates from the visitors.

Even though the cops knew Lorenzo was a Mafia boss, the crimes he was being charged with didn’t warrant him being locked up in a high-security prison. Unfortunately.

Inmates were already sitting in the room, and Luca caught the eye of two of his men who were visiting with their wives or girlfriends. They looked puzzled to see their boss but nodded solemnly at him.

Luca’s eyes narrowed when he spotted Borroni, but he smiled when he noticed the bruises his enemy wore. He glanced at one of his guys, who smirked before going back to talking to his wife. Loyalty, even inside.

Luca made a mental note to reward the man via his wife, then sat down across the table from his enemy.

“Luca ~fucking~ Marcello,” Lorenzo hissed.

“Borroni. I see my guys are keeping you company.” Luca laughed a little as Lorenzo’s face hardened.

“What the fuck do you want?”

“I’m going to get you out of here, my ~friend~. It appears Genovese and I need you.”

Lorenzo nonchalantly leaned back in his chair.

The arrogant prick. Luca took a deep breath, trying to calm the urge to lunge over the table, grab Borroni by the throat, and beat the shit out of him.

“Genovese?” Lorenzo looked around the room, then back at Luca. “Nice to see him crawl out of the woodwork.” He snorted.

Luca had to agree with him—Matteo ~had~ been lying low recently. Nevertheless, there was a bigger threat to their business and their control over New York, and that was this elusive cop.

“Why would I help either of you?” Lorenzo asked.

Luca hated Borroni, but he knew he wasn’t stupid. Lorenzo had no reason to trust Luca, and he definitely didn’t hold Matteo Genovese to a high standard.

“If you don’t, you don’t get out of here.”

Borroni sighed harshly, his eyes wandering to Luca’s men, then back to their boss.

“Plus, we’re going to bring down the cop that put you and your guys in here.”

Luca recognized the glint that appeared in Lorenzo’s blackened eyes—revenge was ~always~ what Lorenzo wanted, what he thrived on. It was the reason he hated Luca, the reason his family was at war with Luca’s.

“And you trust Genovese? The last time the families combined, them bastards killed your granddaddy.” Lorenzo laughed—he’d affected an exaggerated Southern accent for that last part, which he seemed to find highly amusing.

“Although,” he continued, “I wouldn’t consider it a bad thing if history were to repeat itself.”

Luca clenched his fists and took a deep breath.

It would be so easy to walk out and let Lorenzo rot here until his trial. But he had to do this for Hayley, for his family, and for his future.

“I don’t trust anyone, Borroni,” he said, choosing to ignore Lorenzo’s taunt. “But we have the cop who managed to get you arrested to contend with. My insiders have no clue who he is and who he’s using for information.

“Right now, the families need to focus on taking him down.”

Lorenzo was silent for a moment, taking it all in.

“So ~you’re~ bailing me out, Marcello?” he finally asked, and with a little hesitation, Luca nodded.

“I’m having one of your girls bring it in this morning,” he explained. “Your release will be expedited—your lawyer will see to it—and by tonight you’ll be a free man again.”

The thought of his enemy back on the streets of New York didn’t sit well with him.

Lorenzo eyed him suspiciously. “What’s in it for you?”

“Call off the hit on Hayley.”

Lorenzo burst out laughing.

“I knew it would come down to a whore, Marcello.”

Luca sucked in air, ready to kill him for calling her that, but Lorenzo kept talking.

“Of all the things you could have asked for—money, land, territory, even the life of your own padre—yet you chose her.”

“Call it off, Lorenzo,” Luca snarled through gritted teeth. He was furious, but it was all for her. He had to do it for her.

Lorenzo sighed. “You would be a shit poker player, Marcello. You show your hand too easily. You’ve revealed your weakness.”

Luca couldn’t give a fuck about poker; he only cared about his family—and Hayley, of course.

“Fuck you, Borroni.” Luca went to stand up. “You want to rot in here, fine.”

Lorenzo held up his hands. “Whoa, settle down, Marcello. You get me out of here, and the girl will have her hit removed.”

“Good.” Relief flooded him—the two of them had never agreed on anything before, even as teenagers—but he kept his face impassive. “Genovese will contact you with the plan once you’re out.”

Lorenzo nodded curtly.

“Also, Matteo and I agree that we must keep this between us. We all have rats in our ranks. Matteo has only told Francesco; I have only told Nic.” He was lying; he’d told Frankie too.

But he trusted Frankie with every inch of his being. “You must only tell one person—one you know is solidly loyal to you.”

Lorenzo nodded again. “I only trust Vitali.”

Luca knew he’d say that. Vitali was his second. Lorenzo had loads of cousins, but Vitali was his adoptive brother. Lorenzo Sr. took in Vitali when his dad did a job—and it ended badly.

Luca sighed. “I don’t pretend to like you, Borroni, and I know you feel the same. But for now, we have a common enemy, and he needs to be our priority.”

Luca stood up. Lorenzo said nothing.

A buzzer went off somewhere, calling time, and Luca walked away from his enemy without so much as a goodbye. He passed his fellow Marcello men, who were embracing their girls—something he was keen to go home and do.

“Everything go okay?” Nic asked once Luca had reached the SUV and jumped into the front passenger side.

“For now, yes. But I don’t trust Lorenzo.” Luca looked out the window as Nic drove away from the prison.

“Did he agree to your condition?”

Luca nodded. He felt like a traitor to his father bailing out Lorenzo, but what choice did he have?

He had to protect the family his father had built from the ground up; he had to protect himself from this cop, but most importantly—and he realized this was a dangerous shift in priorities—he had to protect Hayley.

HAYLEY

Hayley knew Luca hadn’t been home because his side of the bed was still undisturbed.

It was funny they already had sides when she’d been here such a short time. Luca always slept on the side nearest the door. If someone came in, he wanted to be between her and the intruder.

Frankie hadn’t been very helpful when she’d asked him about Luca’s whereabouts, but at least he’d driven her into the city so she could have coffee and cake with Ava.

“I heard last night was a huge success,” Ava said, taking a sip of her skinny latte.

Nodding, Hayley wiped her hands with a napkin, freeing them from the stickiness of the frosting on her overpriced cupcake.

“It was. Honestly, I love it in the Dublin.”

“Well, I miss you downstairs. And so does Ben. Arianna is still a stuck-up bitch, though.”

“Nothing will change there.” Hayley giggled, and so did Ava.

When it was time to say goodbye, Ava went to get her hair and nails done, and Hayley walked the short distance to the Dublin.

***

The place was even busier tonight—news must have spread about last night—which was good. It kept her mind off worrying about Luca.

Hayley took a sip of ice water as she watched the DJ put the dance tracks on. He was a crowd-pleaser, a flirt, and everyone seemed to love him.

She was looking to hire a regular DJ, one to work with when she didn’t schedule a guest band or artist.

He caught her looking at him and winked, and she smiled and shook her head before getting back to what she did best—serving customers.

Later, when all the guests had gone home, she sat with Siobhan at the bar, having a cup of coffee.

“You’re doing a great job,” Siobhan said.

“I agree.” The voice made her heart skip, and she turned to see Luca standing there.

It had been nearly twenty-four hours since she’d seen him. Where the hell had he been?

“Hello, baby,” he said with a warm glint in his eyes, and she completely forgot to be angry.

She walked over to him, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed his cheek. “Hello, you,” she whispered in his ear, and he held her tighter.

LUCA

As he inhaled the scent of Hayley’s perfume and the smell of her shampoo, Luca’s eyes caught Siobhan’s. She was glaring at him.

“Go grab your stuff,” he murmured into Hayley’s hair.

She nodded and went to the office, and suddenly, Siobhan was in front of him.

“What’s going on, Luca!” she hissed, keeping her voice low. “Why were the Genovese brothers here? And where have you been? You and Nic have had your cells off. You never switch off your phones!”

“Calmati, donna.” He chuckled, but his godmother hit him in the arm.

“Don’t tell me to calm down! And quit speaking in Italian.”

That just made him laugh harder.

“Seriously, Luca. What are you up to with Matteo Genovese? You know I hate that man.”

“I’m handling it,” he said, keeping his voice low but laced with authority. He shouldn’t have bothered, though, since it was wasted on Siobhan.

“Don’t do anything stupid, Luca. Remember, a Genovese killed your grandfather.”

He didn’t need reminding—it was an embarrassing part of the Marcello family history. Who walks blindly into an enemy’s trap?

“And we killed many more of theirs,” he retorted. “Trust me, Siobhan, this is bigger than all that.”

He heard Hayley reenter the room and smiled at her over Siobhan’s shoulder.

He couldn’t wait to get his girl home.